Automatic motion-picture-projecting machine



I. E. WINTERBUIIN.

AUTOMATIC MOTION PICTURE PROIECTING MACHINE. APPIICAIIOII FILED Nov: I3, I9I9.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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AUTOMATIC MOTION PICTURE PROJECTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I3, 1919.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

3 SHEETSHEET 2.

J. E. WINT RRRRR N.

' A U T o M A T I C M O T l O N P l C T U R E P R G J E C T I N G M A C H l N E l l ease!! llll ng, l

il. llll I l I I l l y I I I l l n I I I l l 1 will( l Il' I l UNITED STATESA PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES WINTERBURN, F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR T0 ERNEST J'. TORREGANO, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMATIC MOTION-PICTURE-PRDJECTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 7l, 1922.

' Application ledlNovember 13, 1919. Serial No. 337,720.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JAMES' E. vWINTER- BURN, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Motion-Picture-Projecting Machines, of which the following is a specificacharacter adapted to be placed in waiting rooms, arcades, amusement parks, theatre lobbies, public streets, or other places where large numbers of people congregate.

Another Objectis to so construct the device that it will be automatically stopped at the proper place'with all the parts returned to their initial position ready to be again automatically started by the insertion of another coin; and so o-n indefinitely.

Other objects will appear in the subjoined description.

The projector is operated by electricity and employs a cinematographic film, and a leading feature of the invention consists of an electrical commutator so related to coin; operated mechanism thatpwhen a coin of the proper denomination is dropped into the machine, the commutator is moved into position to set up an electrical connection that serves toset the machine in motion, which motion is continued till the circuit of the film is completed, at which pointthe 'film is provided with an opening adapted to engage other mechanism connected with the commutator in such a way that the further movement ofthe film moves the commutator backward to its initial position, thereby breaking the electrical circuit and sto-pping the machine, with all the partsin position to be again set in motion by the insertion of another coin.

The invention consists incertain novel features of construction and relative ar-l rangement of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my device with part of the film 'container broken away.

Fig.2 is a view of the commutator and its connections, showing how it is first operated by the coin to start the machine,v and then by the film to stop it. view illustrating the film slot. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the commutator. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the film guide and the film. Fig. 6 is a view, partly diagrammatic, showing how my device is employed to project pictures upwardly in a cabinet; and, Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the device as employed to project pictures downwardly.

Referring further to the drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a mounting plate which is provided at itsrear end with a. T-head 2 adapted to be attached to the side of ay cabinet or to a wall. Supported on the forward end of the plate 1 is a machine head 3 of ordinary construction containing a Geneva intermittent movement, shutters, etc. Slightly'to the rear of the machine head 3, a lamp house 4 is suitably mounted on the top side of the plate 1, and a film container 5 mounted on the under side of said plate. The lamp house is provided with a door 6 which gives access to the interior thereof where the lighting equipment is assembled.

An electric motor 7 is mounted on the front side of the plate 1 near the forward end of the lamp house, and furnishes the power for running the device. i

Mounted on top of the lamp house 4 is the -casing 8 which contains the controlling mechanism of the device. .This controlling mechanism is separately illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, in which is shown a commutator 9 rigidly carried on a shaft 10, Which is in turn rotatably mounted on brackets 11 carried on the casing 8. Rigidly secured to the commutator 9 is a downwardly extending arm 12 terminating at its lower end in a rigid pan or disk 13 which is normally opposite the inner end of a coin chute 1.4which empties into a boX,15,fsho-wn 1n dotted lines, the pan 13 being in the path of the coin as itleaves the chute 14 and enters the box 15.

Mounted on the casing 8 are two posts or 21 on the commutator 9, and the wire 22 in' electrical connection with said segment and the wire 19. From this arrangement it will be seen that if the segment 21 be rotated out of engagement with the brush 20, the electrical circuit will be broken, but when it is in engagement therewith the circuit is coinplete.

Suitably supported above the casing 8 isa film guide 23, illustrated in section in Fig. 5. The under side of this film guide has a slot 24.

Rigidly mounted on the commutator shaft 1() is a finger 25 having its upper pointed end extending into the slot 24 in the under side of the film guide 23. This finger 25 is provided at its upper end with a small friction roller 26 which also extends into said slot 24. 'Ihe film rides easily over this roller which prevents the film from being scratched by the finger.

The film enters the film container through a slot 27 near the forward end thereof, and passes out from the container through a slot 28 near the other end thereof. These slots are lined with velvet or other soft material to prevent the film from getting scratched or torn, and the front side of the container is removable so that films may be easily removed and replaced.

At the lower left corner of the device, just to the rear of the exit opening 28 of the film container are standards 29 in which are mounted two rubber rollers 3() and 31 in engagement with each other ,and between which the film 32 passes. The roller 30 is provided on the outer end of its shaft with a pinion 33 which is enga ed by a belt or band 34 from the motor The film extends upwardly from the rollers 30 and 31 over the free roller 35 suitably mounted at the upper rear end of the lamp house, and thence forwardly passing through the film guide 23, and on between the rollers 36 and 37, the latter one of which has a pinion 38 on the outer end of its shaft, said pinion being connected with the motor 7 by a belt or band 39. From the rollers 36 and 37 the film passes on over the free roller 35* mounted on a standard 40 extending upwardly from the machine head 3, and thence downwardly through the machine head in the usual manner, and from the machine head on down through the film guard 41 which is a metal case open at its front side or edge to permit loading of the film. The lower end of the guide 41 is immediately above the opening 27 of the container 5. This case snugly fits the film and thereby serves to properly guide the same as it is fed into the container.- The rollers 31 and 36 .are removable, so that the film may be more readily placed in its operative position in the machine. The pair of rollers 30 and 31 are rotated by the band 34x from the motor in-a direction to pull the .cated in the film at a film into'the container again, through the inlet opening 27.

Metal housings or shields 42 and 43 may be employed if desired for protecting the film from heat radiating from the lamphouse. However, it is not believed that these metal housings will be needed, since the operating temperature of the machine is not high, but they may be used under certain circumstances by Way of extra precaution.l One side of each of these housings is usually made removable to facilitate changing films.

The money box 15 illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2 is built into the front side of the forward end of the lamp house. A door 44 gives .access to this money box (see Fig.

1) when it is desired to remove the money therefrom.

In order that there may be no tampering with the money at the lower end of the chute where it passes the controlling mechanism of the machine and enters the money box, I provide a protecting hood 45 which is directly connected with the money box.

In addition to the belts 34 and 39 which connect the motor 7 with the rollers 30 and r' 38 respectively, I also provide the belt 46 ylvhiclh connects the motor with the machine The film 34 is in the form of an endless belt, and its length depends upon the subject to be presented, and upon the size of the container 5. It is provided near its edges with the usual openings 47 for engagement with the feed sprockets 48 of the machine head, and at its center with the slot 49 looint between the beginning and the end ofD ed on the film. Y

Fig. 6 shows in a partially diagrammatic manner how my devlce may be mounted in a cabinet 50 for projecting pictures upwardly. The mounting plate 1 has its T- head 1a adapted to be secured to the bottom and to the rear wall of the cabinet, and the pictures are projected upwardly onto a transparent screen 51 in a View box 52 opening out at the front side of the cabinet at an angle to afford an easy view of said screen. The View box is provided with a cover 53 which may be either plain glass or a magnifying lens, as may be preferred.

A metal housing 54 extends downwardly from the transparent screen 51 to the forward end of the projector to exclude all rays of light from falling on the screen 51 except the subject illustraty In Fig. 7 my device is shown as used in a cabinet 50a for projecting pictures downwardly, and here I have shown the cabinet provided at its bottom with a screen 56, which may be a mirror, if so desired.

The view box 57 (like the view box 52 illustrated in Fig. 6)' is a metal or wooden box so constructedfas to exclude as far as possible, outside light rays from the cabinet while at the same time furnishing an easy view of the image projected on the screen.

The closure 58 of the view box may be either'plain glass or a magnifying lens.

In this cabinet the coin chute extends upwardly to an opening 59 on the front side of thecabinet near the top-thereof.

The forms of the device employed for projecting pictures upwardly and downwardly and horizontally, as illustrated in Figs. 1,-6, and 7 are all substantially alike,

.and only differ from each other in such insignificant and immaterial changes, in details of construction, as grow out of having to extend the coin chute at different angles, ctc.: so that it is unnecessary to refer further to these slight differences in the details of construction as shown in the views referred to. In all these forms of the device the lamp house is provided with a magnifying lens 60 in its forward end, for intensifying thelight thrown onto the film in the machine head.

The operation of the device is as follows: A coin of proper denomination is inserted in the chute 14, and in passing out of the chute into the money box l5 it strikes the disk or pan 13 moving the same forwardly, which in turn serves to rotate the commutator 9 and brings the segment 21 (Fig. 4) of the commutator into engagement with the brush 20, thus closing the electrical circuit 'and starting the machine through the operation of the electrical motor 7 which operates through the belts 34X, 39, and 46 to move the film continuously forward till the slot 49 of the film, in passing through the film guide 23, engages the point of the finger 25 and moves it forwardly, which motion,

through the shaft 10, rotates the commutator forwardly sufficiently to move the segment 21 out of engagement with the brush 20, and thus breaks the electrical circuit and stops the machine, leaving the parts in position to be again set in motion by the insertion of another coin.

Having now described my invention, what 'I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a device of the character described,

a projector adapted to be operated by anA electric motor and employing a cinematographic film in the form of an endless belt adapted to be moved continuously in a given direction, and having electrical connections adapted to connect the motor in a circuit with a source of electrical power; a commutator for opening and closing the electrical circuit, said commutator being provided with means whereby it is directly operated both by a coin passing from the coin chute and also by the film; the former directly engaging and operating it in one direction to close the circuit to start the motor, and the latter directly engaging and operating it in the opposite direction to break the circuit and stop the motor.

2. In a device of the character described, a projector adapted to be operated by an electric motor and employing a cinematographic film adapted to be moved continuously 1n a given direction by said motor; electrical connections including a commutator mounted on a free moving shaft and adapted to connect and disconnect the motor in a circuit with a source of electrical power; a coin receptacle and means for conveying a coin thereinto, said free moving commutator having an arm extending into the path of said coin and adapted to be moved by the weight and impact of the coin to mechanically rotate the commutator in a direction to close the electrical circuit to start the operating motor; said film having a slot therein and said commutator having another arm connected therewith and provided with a point having a friction roller adjacent thereto 1n the same plane and normally in contact with the film when the machine is in motion, and adapted to drop into the slot in the film when reached by the same, whereby the point is adapted to be engaged by the moving film in said slot to mechanically rotate the free movin commutator and the parts moving therewlth back to the original position which they occupied before they were acted upon by the coin which started the machine in motion.

3. In a device of the character described, a projector adapted to be operated by an electric motor and employing a cinematographic film in the form of an endless belt adapted to be moved continuously in a given direction, and having electrical connections adapted to connect the motor in a circuit with a source of electrical power; and a commutator in said circuit adapted to be mechanically operated b the coin and film to make and break the e ectrical circuit to start and stop the machine.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JAMES E. WINTERBURN. 

